Conventional fertilizers are granulated from the constituent nutrients that are utilized to form the fertilizers. In some formulations, various crop chemicals or “agrochemicals” are added to the granulated mixtures in order to achieve additional goals in the plant products beyond fertilization. The fact that these conventional fertilizers were prepared by granulation meant that the agrochemicals could be granulated with the fertilizer constituents to give a finished product.
As new fertilizers began to be processed by methods other than granulation, it became more difficult to add agrochemicals to the fertilizers. Manufacturers coated the fertilizer particles with solutions that contained agrochemicals, but then found that many of the most desirable agrochemicals didn't dissolve in suitable solutions in order to coat the fertilizer particles.
It is common to apply liquid coatings to fertilizers to impart desirable properties or control undesirable properties. Dry ingredients can only be used to the extent that they are soluble in the base liquid or to the extent that a useful liquid-solid suspension or slurry can be made and applied. One approach is to apply the solid ingredient first to the fertilizer and then apply the liquid to seal the solid to the product. However, the solid ingredient is limited to those that have good spreading characteristics, but still adhere to the product to be ultimately held into place.
Therefore, there is a need to prepare physically and chemically modified fertilizers, which are modified through coating with desirable agrochemicals. It is also a goal to prepare these modified fertilizers by using any desirable agrochemicals despite the fact that those agrochemicals may not be dissolvable in liquids.
Table 1 shows some contemplated modified fertilizer material recipes.